As anyone who has ever gone for a run on a sweltering July day knows, working out in the heat and humidity can put a dent in your mood and energy level, not to mention turn you into a drippy, sweaty mess.

Now, research from the University of Nebraska at Omaha suggests another consequence of exercising outside when temperatures are high: it can affect your muscles on a cellular level and do a number on your performance. 

These preliminary findings are part of some pretty fascinating research happening at UNO’s School of Health and Kinesiology. There, researchers are studying how training in different climates can affect your muscles. More specifically, they're looking at how mitochondria—the power generators in your cells—are influenced by various temperatures, Dustin Slivka, PhD, head researcher and director of the Exercise Physiology Laboratory at UNO, tells Health.

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Why is this important? Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a major role in obesity, diabetes, aging, and other conditions. Slivka and his team want to find out what the optimal temperature is for working out, which might prevent this dysfunction and potentially lower rates of disease.

“If we can further optimize the outcomes of physical exercise then we can better combat these disabilities,” Slivka says.  

In one ongoing experiment with 36 participants, the researchers have been extracting muscle tissue samples from each participant's thigh before, immediately after, and three to four hours after they've completed an hour of cycling in a climate-controlled chamber. Temperatures in the chamber range from a scorching 91 degrees to a comfy 68 degrees to a cool 44 degrees, says Slivka. 

As the samples are collected, Slivka and his team are looking at how the tissue responds to stimulation and the way different proteins move within the muscle's cells. Though the research won't be done for another 18 months, the findings have been consistent so far: study participants are performing better in cold conditions than hot.

WATCH THE VIDEO: The High-Intensity Cardio Workout You Can Do In Your Living Room

“Participants feel very comfortable exercising in the cold environment,” observes Slivka. “Most are a bit chilly for the first five minutes, but the heat produced from exercise quickly warms them.” 

Not only that, but the heat didn't seem to have any positive effect on study participants' results. "When we have people exercise in a hot environment it really challenged their physiology," said Slivka in an interview with wowtv.com. "That response appears to be very negative. Almost as if they didn't work out at all." 

That may be influenced by the way humid conditions can cause the body to overheat, since sweat doesn’t evaporate as readily when the air is already moist. As a result, we don't cool down sufficiently—and may be less motivated to work hard. 

Slivka says his team found that a single bout of exercise in the heat isn’t as effective for mitochondrial development as a single bout of exercise completed at room temperature. But whether that stays true in the long term remains to be seen.

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“The current study will let us know if this persists throughout training or if the muscle can acclimate (as the cardiovascular and thermoregulatory systems do) and restore the normal beneficial response to exercise,” he says.

In the meantime, don't use the new findings to justify blowing off your outdoor run or bike ride. Even if your workouts aren't as effective in terms of muscle development, exercise is awesome for a ton of other reasons—it relieves stress, gives you an energy boost, and burns calories. Take it indoors where the AC is cranking, and you'll score all these benefits and more.

Photo: Pond5

This article originally appeared on Life by Daily Burn.

Forget the treadmill. Stair-climbing machines are likely the most dreaded piece of cardio equipment in the gym, and for good reason: Trotting up step after step is tough work. But that’s exactly why you should add climbing to your fitness routine. Running up stairs makes for a high-charged cardio session that you can knock out in minutes. Plus, it fires up your quads and glutes and pumps up your power — so you’ll end up stronger for all your flat-ground workouts, too.

“Running stairs is very similar to running hills,” says John Honerkamp, founder and chief fitness officer at J.R. Honerkamp Consulting in New York City. “You’re not able to run up stairs as fast as you can on flats, but you’re using your sprint muscles and mechanics. You use your legs more, engage your core more and drive with your arms, so it’s a full-body movement.”

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The Case for a Stair Workout

Depending on where you live, a running route with hills may be hard to find. And even the steepest hills in your city likely don’t come close to the grade incline you’ll get from a set of stairs.

If continuously huffing up and down a staircase sounds monotonous, not to worry: It doesn’t have to last very long. Tackling an incline (and moving against gravity) is so effective that even brief sessions can lead to major results. In fact, running stairs for just 10 minutes, three times a week, improved women’s cardiovascular fitness after only six weeks, according to a new study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

To work climbing into your exercise schedule, start swapping out one of your regular runs or elliptical workouts per week with 20 or 30 minutes on the stair master or some steps. Your high school stadium or nearby cement staircase will work. “Do stairs once a week and think of it as a way to break up the boring, easy runs,” suggests Honerkamp. Ready to rise to the challenge? Give this vertical workout designed by Honerkamp a go.

RELATED: Why I Started Running — And Never Stopped

Your 25-Minute Stair Workout

Photo: Twenty20

When running stairs, Honerkamp recommends going hard on the way up, and then jogging down at an easy pace to avoid heavy pounding on your joints. Besides playing with your pace, this workout also mixes in upper- and total-body strength moves between flights. So you can cross cardio and strength off your to-do list simultaneously. Now get stepping!

Ever bailed on going to a yoga session because you were afraid your body wasn’t slim enough to pull off downward dog? The stereotypical yoga person may be slender, but this body positive Instagrammer demolishes the idea that only thin people are good at getting bendy.

Dolly Singh, 34, is a Mumbai-based yogi whose Instagram feed is all the inspo you need to roll out your mat no matter what your BMI is. The difference between her and the other Insta-famous yoga influencers? Singh is plus-sized. Yet that hasn't stopped her from mastering some impressively complex moves.

Singh got into yoga three years ago when she was advised to lose weight after an ankle injury. After getting bored with running, she signed up for a yoga class—and was instantly hooked.

Scroll through her Instagram account to see her progress. Each photo features Singh twisting and turning in all sorts of beautiful contortions. From crow pose to headstands, she looks strong and powerful, all while flaunting her figure in brightly colored leggings and sports bras. 

"I'm not aiming to have this thin figure,” Singh told international news agency AFP. “ But I am aiming to have a beautiful flow and make my body strong through yoga.”

Just get through mile one. This is what I tell myself whenever I head off on a run and feel tempted to turn right back around. The Jedi mind trick of it all is that after the first mile, I’ve found my groove and will just keep going. But as winter settled into New England last year, I noticed my little mantra was becoming an everyday necessity.

That’s when opportunity knocked, in the form of an invite to Jamaica’s Reggae Marathon, Half Marathon & 10K. It came from a publicist friend who was working with the island’s tourist board and knew that I often write about running. "Come for the run, stay for the fun," read the tagline. How could I worry about Mile One when surrounded by sun, sand, and surf?

Plus, this was my chance to experience a "runcation" (a vacay built around a race). The travel trend, which lets you simultaneously check a destination off your bucket list and fulfill a personal goal by crossing the finish line, has been growing steadily in recent years. And women in particular are embracing this double-duty getaway. The turnout at Destination Races—a series of half marathons held in wine regions in the U.S. and Canada—is "70 to 75 percent female," reports Matt Dockstader, the president of the organization. More than half the runners headed to the Reggae Marathon were women, too.

Girl power getaway

A runcation is a way to take your girls’ weekend to the next level, explains Sarah Bowen Shea, cofounder of the popular online community Another Mother Runner. "If I want to meet up with my sorority sisters or the moms from my birthing class who now live in different parts of the country, it can be a challenge," she says. But when you organize your meet-up around a race, it becomes more doable.

It’s also a perfect activity for friends who share a passion for running, says Gina Imperato, who helps put on the Montclair Bread Co.’s 5K Doughnut Run and Baker’s Dozen 13.1 in New Jersey (and takes an annual runcation with her high school buddies). "Women get their strength from leveraging their community," she says. "Sure, we can race alone, but why, when it’s so much more fun in a group?" 

And it’s not just the long weekend you get to spend with your homegirls—you also experience weeks or months of bonding while training. "You can use apps like Strava, Dailymile, or even Facebook to encourage each other remotely," says Shea. It’s about having a shared goal, one that could strengthen the connection you already have.

Or, in my case, creating a brand-new connection. During the winding, nearly two-hour van ride from Sangster International Airport to the Cliff Hotel in Negril, I started chatting with a fellow journalist from Toronto. We kept the confab going through the entire trip, bonding over everything from our favorite Sean Paul song to dealing with the rigors of running outdoors year-round. I even told her about my Mile One mantra and the rut I feared I was slipping into, and her knowing nods felt instantly reassuring.

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Finish strong

When race day arrived, I actually sprang out of bed, raring to go, despite my 3:30 a.m. wake-up call and the oppressive humidity that hit my face like a brick in the predawn darkness. And not once did I mutter anything about getting through the first mile as I gathered with the more than 2,300 other runners behind the starting line or when we all took off down the flat road. I was focused on running my own race.

As I passed the 10K course’s midway point, I started to tune in to my surroundings and told myself to take it easy. There were Bob Marley songs blaring from giant speakers and onlookers cheering from the sidelines. Members of running teams, wearing matching shirts, tried to keep one another’s spirits high. We were all feeling the steaminess of the weather, but also the camaraderie.

When I looked around at the thinned-out crowd of runners nearby, it was heartening to see such a range of people pounding the pavement (and sweating profusely) alongside me. Women, men, young high school track stars, older folks just keeping their own pace—everyone set on getting to the finish line.

All three of the races ended at the oatmeal-colored sands of Seven Mile Beach. When I finally made it, I kicked off my running shoes, peeled off my socks, and plopped down by the shore, soaking up every detail of the blissful moment. When I caught my breath, I found my new running-writer friend, and we hung out, dancing to the music from the main stage and toasting our finish with coconut water sipped straight from its freshly chopped source.

The trip boosted not only my running spirit but also my mood. I felt lighter and at ease, ready to step back into my life at home refreshed. The sun, the sea, the runcation experience in a vibrant country—it all helped me run my way out of a rut and discover a new way of seeing the world, one race at a time. My next destination: a half marathon in Nova Scotia this fall.